John McDougall, President of the National Research Council of Canada, has accepted an invitation to be a Keynote Speaker at the upcoming i-CANADA Advisory Board Summit in Windsor Ontario.

“For communities that are striving to grow, a connection with the NRC is vital,” said Barry Gander, Co-Founder of i-CANADA and EVP of Canada’s largest high-technology organization, the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA). “The NRC embodies the approach used by i-CANADA: customized growth according to specific needs.”

Community leaders who network with Mr. McDougall at the Summit can explore many NRC programs of interest to Canadian communities:

ØA comprehensive suite of research, testing and business support services that cater to specialized needs;

ØThe Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) that assists small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada to grow stronger and faster, using financial and technical assistance to help drive innovation for global advantage;

ØA Youth Employment Program that provides financial assistance to innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada to hire post-secondary science, engineering, technology, business and liberal arts graduates;

ØA network of hundreds of state-of-the-art facilities that can amplify community plans to establish centres of excellence.

i-CANADA has concentrated a stellar line-up of leaders to speak it the i-CANADA Vision: To have Canada acknowledged as the world’s leading Intelligent Nation or “i-Nation” because a sufficiently broad base of Canadian communities, large and small, have all won international awards as the world’s leading Intelligent Communities. Summit themes include:

ØBroadband as a Fundamental Right – The Honourable Suvi Linden, former Minister of Communications, Finland

ØThe Global Journey – how other cities from around the world have become Intelligent Communities;

ØSocial Challenges of Intelligent Communities, including health care, the arts, education and media;

Ø2020 Foresight - what the Intelligent Community will look like in the future;

ØThe National Vision – from The Honourable David Alward, Premier of New Brunswick and Chair of the i-CANADA Governors Council;

ØThe Western Experience – featuring representatives from Alberta and B.C.;

ØEastern Canada’s Plans – with i-CANADA’s Atlantic Chair Gary Stairs

ØCanada’s Cities Today – remarks by Berry Vrbanovic, President of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities

ØThe Assessment Tool – the first comprehensive “GPS Locator” that shows communities where they fit and where to go next, to become an Intelligent Community

About i-CANADA’s Advisory Board Meeting

During the past year, i-CANADA has assembled a system of proven models, frameworks and processes to assist communities at all stages of becoming an Intelligent Community. In the past few months a committee of seventeen experts from the public and private sectors has created what may be the world’s most detailed community measurement and assessment system. It will allow communities to determine where they are on the scale of Intelligent Community development, benchmark themselves against others and establish milestones for their future progress.

All of these assets will be reviewed at the first meeting of i-CANADA’s Board of Advisors and other community and visionary leaders in Windsor, Ontario, on November 16 and 17, 2011 —another sign of the growing commitment to i-CANADA. The Agenda can be obtained at:

John R. McDougall, a leader in Canadian science and technology policy and innovation, was appointed as NRC's President in April 2010. Until recently, Mr. McDougall served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alberta Research Council (ARC), a position he has held for the past 12 years. Mr. McDougall's career began with a decade served as a petroleum engineer. This quickly evolved into the ownership and management of an international engineering consulting firm. Following this, he held a number of influential positions with some of Canada's most innovative research and manufacturing businesses, consortium and not-for-profit organizations.